Fodor's may use your email address to send you relevant information on site updates, account changes, and offers. For more information about your privacy and protection, please review our full Privacy Policy.

Driving thru Argentina

Hello to all the forum members. I've just joined this forum and I want to share my travel idea. Yes it is idea and I want to make this idea come true. I'll be thankful for all the contributions.

I'm from Bombay, India and I want to come to Argentina April 2012 end for a 3-4 weeks trip. I want this to be once in a lifetime journey. I want to drive and travel from south to North. I might be joined by two friends but it is not certain as of now. This is going to be a huge thing as I do not know Spanish and by the time I reach Argentina I'll be at elementary level only. This gives you an understanding I’m not going to be a tourist but a traveller. There are a many questions I have and many questions that are important but they have not come to me. Seasoned travellers and locals guidance is welcome.

I got interested in Argentina through Ricardo Darin. I have watched his about half a dozen movies of his. Also I’ve heard about Patagonia having the world’s most beautiful countryside. To travel through Patagonia is a dream.

I’ll give you a rough idea about my planned itinerary. I have been studying the country through Google maps. If the map showed a big city I covered it in the route. So it is not final and it can go through changes. I’ll arrive at BA and then travel BA and surrounding region for 3-4 days. Then I’ll fly to Ushuaia spend a few days then fly to El calafate. From El calafate I’ll hire a car and drive it all the way north.

We spent 3 months travelling all over Argentina using a combination of rental cars and buses. My first thought is that you need to rethink your itinerary as it seems way to ambitious in the time you have available. Google maps are great but they are no substitute for serious research using websites such as this and a good guidebook(s).

The distances involved are vast and you have the added factor to consider of the weather in the different regions to consider. Rather than just clocking up the miles, I would research teh places you REALLY want to visit and then take it from there. In a country like Argentina, less really is more. By restricting the miles you will see more and get a much better feel for the country.

To answer your specific question, yes, it is possible to make this idea a reality but I do not feel it makes best use of your time and money.

On the question of safety, qwovadis repeats his comments "Rental cars are very expensive you cannot cross borders

with them and they mark you to thieves and police for

constant shakedowns/hassles in many areas." every time the words "cars" & "Argentina" are mentioned - not sure where he gets this info from but my experience of the people and police in Argentina is that they were extremely friendly and helpful and we experienced no problems at all.

I strongly suggest that you work on your Spanish skills as they will prove extremely useful in some of the mor remote places.

I agree with crellston I that u need to scale back. I don't think u will have much time to enjoy any of the beautiful countryside with the schedule u r proposing.

also do not understand where qwovadis gets the idea that there are issues with the police and shakedowns in a rental car. We have driven a fair amount in ARg and never had any trouble of any kind. Rental cars CAN be taken across country borders but you need special paperwork in advance. U can not pick a car up in one country and leave it in another, but u r not suggesting that.

He might be talking about province crossings. We had a private driver take us from Salta - Mendoza, when we crossed into a different province there was a "police" stop and a lot of conversation in Spanish I did not understand. When I asked, our guide said it was about fruit/vegetables, they have strict laws about transporting these items between provinces, but that sounded a bit suspect to me. Anyway, I was glad to have our guide to get us through these crossings.

We drove from Buenos Aires to Tucuman and Salta and Jujuy and back to Buenos Aires. It was quite the adventure - the roads are filled with old cars that are a danger to the public, there a loose animals by the side of the roads, in one, there were actually horses on the road while the owner just looked on ...

Driving in Argentina is not easy as the signaling is very provincial (actually the signs on the roads were done with non-reflecting lettering so you can't read them at night), you can get lost very easily and if you don't speak Spanish to get directions you will be at a loss. It can be done, but just be prepared. If you are dead set on starting up your drive in the south, then just take your time and stay in the bottom half, enjoy Bariloche you can cross over to Chile on the lakes - Another year you can you can do the north part. Mendoza is most fun during the winter, when it's skiing season, otherwise in the summer it's just another city - no particular charm.